The invention relates to an apparatus for receiving a multitude of programs, said programs being classified by at least a first and a second attribute, the apparatus comprising user-operable profiling means for defining a subset of said multitude of programs constituting a user profile.
The invention also relates to a method of establishing a subset of a multitude of programs, said programs being classified by at least a first and a second attribute, the method comprising a step of defining a user profile.
An apparatus as defined above is widely known. For example, a TV receiver receives TV programs which can be classified by various attributes, such as the channel name, e.g. CNN, BBC, and the program category (e.g. news, sports, movies). The development of, in particular, digital television will dramatically increase the number of programs which can be received simultaneously, making it more difficult for viewers to select a suitable program. Recently, features have been introduced to help the user make a choice, e.g. by filtering the received programs in accordance with user-supplied preferences. For example, some known TVs enable a user to enter a xe2x80x98favorite channel listxe2x80x99 for limiting, in a particular mode of the TV, the number of programs which are to be selected in a zap-circle or are included in an electronic program guide (EPG). When the user operates the zap keys, channels which are not included in the favorite channel list are skipped. The EPG will present only information related to programs which are broadcast through the channels in the favorite channel list. It is also known to limit the information presented by an EPG to programs of a specific category. Information about a program""s category may be supplied by the content provider, e.g. included in a dedicated teletext page or as part of the service information (SI) of a digital broadcast stream.
It is an object of the invention to provide an apparatus having more accurate means for filtering received programs in accordance with user-supplied preferences. To this end, the apparatus according to the invention is characterized in that the user profile comprises a rating for a value combination of at least a value of the first attribute and a value of the second attribute, the rating determining whether a program classified by said value combination is a member of said subset. Rating individual value combinations, e.g. by means of like/dislike markers, enables dependencies between attributes to be taken into account. For example, the user profile may contain a positive rating for news reports on particular channels, e.g. CNN and BBC, and a negative rating for news reports on all other channels. For other program categories, e.g. movies, another set of preferred channels may be specified. In such a way, a very detailed user profile can be established, allowing an accurate estimation of those programs that will be appreciated by the user. Other attributes may be used as well, e.g. the time of day or the duration could be a further factor in determining whether a program will be appreciated by the user. Other factors may be language, presence of subtitles, bilingual broadcasting, black and white programs, etc.
In an embodiment of the invention, the user profile determines which programs are included in a zap-circle. For example, when the user operates the channel-up or channel-down keys, only programs having a value combination with a positive rating will be selected. Other programs will be skipped automatically.
In a further embodiment of the invention, the user profile determines which programs are presented in an electronic program guide (EPG). For example, when the user requests an overview of the programs to be broadcast in the next few hours, only programs having a value combination with a positive rating are presented, or alternatively, made more prominent in comparison with other programs.
A further embodiment of the invention according to the invention is characterized in that the profiling means are arranged to simultaneously assign the same rating to all value combinations which contain a specific value of a specific attribute. For example, a user may assign a positive rating to all BBC programs at once, irrespective of their category or further properties, or assign a negative rating to all sports programs, irrespective of the channel or further properties. A user profile comprising ratings for combinations of two attributes may easily be represented as a matrix, e.g. having a row for each program category and a column for each channel. A rating can be assigned to any individual cell in the matrix, or alternatively to a whole row or column, thereby overruling previous actions. For large matrices, fish-eye techniques, or focus and context techniques, may be used to maintain overview, while presenting part of the matrix in sufficient detail to be inspected and processed. Such techniques are known per se.
In an embodiment of the invention, multiple profiles may be stored in the apparatus, enabling a plurality of persons to access their own personal profile. In a preferred embodiment, one of said profiles is a default one, and selected automatically at power on. The default profile preferably assigns a positive rating to all value combinations, in other words, all programs received are available in the zap-circle and the EPG. The default profile could be taken as a departure for creating a personal profile, requiring the user to enter disliked value combinations only. Alternatively, a profile comprising only negative ratings could be taken as a departure, which is more appropriate for creating a very selective profile. As another alternative, users may be allowed to choose from among a series of predefined stereotype profiles. If necessary, the users could further refine these stereotype profiles in accordance with their own interests.
A further embodiment according to the invention is characterized in that the profiling means are adapted to present at least a part of the value combinations of a user profile on the display screen, and to indicate which of the presented value combinations correspond to a program which is being received simultaneously. For example, the TV screen may be utilized to present the user profile as a matrix, enabling the user to edit the ratings of cells, rows and columns. In this embodiment the same matrix representation is used to provide a quick overview of those programs, i.e. value combinations, that are currently broadcast. Various graphic techniques may be applied to convey the information, e.g. different background colors for positive and negative ratings and icons to indicate actual reception.
The invention is particularly suitable for television or radio receivers, set-top boxes and video recorders.
These and other aspects of the invention are apparent from and will the elucidated, by way of a non-limitative example, with reference to the embodiment(s) described hereinafter.